Collection 6: Lost in the Woods eps 22 till 25
by LatiosFan
Summary: Episodes 22-25 in my series of episodes where Ash and Angie travel together through the Pokémon world, now combined in a separate story. MorpheusShipping but also for other Pokémon fans. Ash and Angie are facing new challenges in Viridian Forest...
1. Chapter 1

Episode 22: An Eggcellent Adventure (part 1)

Episode 22 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

After staying in Pewter City for two days, Ash and his friends had to move on now. After having breakfast one more time with Brock's family, they packed their bags.

"Thanks for the hospitality," Ash said to Flint and his wife.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Angie added, and Tracey said something similar.

"No problem kids," Flint answered, "and thanks for the interesting battle."

"You too," Ash replied.

They walked away, waving goodbye to Flint, Lola and all the kids. Their next stop was going to be Viridian City, which meant taking Route 2 and travel through Viridian Forest.

"I've heard there are a lot wild Pokémon in Viridian Forest. Is that true Ash?" Angie asked.

"Yeah, it's filled with them," Ash answered, "but that is not the biggest challenge."

"Oh, what is that then?" Angie informed.

"It's a real maze, so it easy to get lost," Ash said very casually.

"Lost!? Better hand me over that map right away then!" Angie yelled.

"Okay, okay," Ash said, as he uncovered his ears again, "here you are," an handed over the map to Angie.

After a while they found a little field, where some Bellossom were performing a nice dance, and a few Jumpluff were floating above them, doing their own performance in the air.

"This is fantastic!" Tracey said, all inspired, and he took out his sketchbook to quickly capture the moment.

"It is beautiful, right Ange?" Ash said, as he put his arm around her waist.

"Hmmm..." was all Angie replied, looking a bit absentminded.

"Is something wrong?" Ash informed.

"Huh? Oh no, nothing's wrong," she quickly answered, "what makes you think that?"

Tracey put away his sketchbook, and they continued their journey.

"Hey Angie, are you sure we are going the right way?" Ash asked, "I've been wondering about this place quite a lot, and even I have never seen this part of the forest."

"Well, that's probably because you have never followed the right way then, mister!" Angie replied, clearly irritated.

"Sure..." Ash grumbled and they walked on.

After a while Angie suddenly stopped.

"What's the matter, Ange?" Ash informed, "if you are getting tired, just say so, we can take a short break then."

"That's not it..." Angie replied, while looking down at the ground.

"Maybe she's hungry, it is getting close to noon," Tracey suggested.

"No!" Angie yelled, then looked down again, "I... I don't know where we are... okay?"

"What!?" Ash yelled, "and you said you were a way better navigator than me."

"Well, I thought I was," Angie explained, "but it turns out I'm just a bad at it as you. Happy now?"

"Yes .... well.. no..." Ash stuttered, "so you mean you have absolutely no idea where we are?"

"Exactly," Angie admitted.

"And before you ask me," Tracey remarked, "I have been looking around to spot nice things to draw, so I also have no idea of our precise location."

"That's just great," Ash said as he paced a few steps away, his fists clenched in anger. "Auww! What the...!?" he yelled as he hit something hard with his foot.

Ash thought he had stumbled upon a rock, and swung his leg backwards to kick this obstacle away in his frustration.

"Ash! No!!" Angie and Tracey both yelled at the same time.

"Huh?" Ash wondered, while freezing in his motion.

"That's not a rock," Angie explained, "it's..."

"... a Pokémon egg?" Ash said surprised, after he had looked down at what he had taken for a rock.

"How did it get here?" Tracey asked, looking around for any traces of the parents of the seemingly abandoned egg."

Meanwhile, not too far away from where our friends are.

"I should never had let you carry that egg!" Jessie shouted at James.

"Oopsy... I think I put it down when I had to tie that loose shoelace... " James tried to apologize.

"That would never have happened to me," Meowth said at a blaming tone.

"Of course it won't, you don't even have shoelaces," James said, with a simple expression on his face.

"If you guys can spare a moment?" Jessie said with a very calm sounding voice, "and just get me my egg back!" she added, now shouting out loud.

"Yes ma'am!" Meowth and James both said, trembling with fear.

"Now it must be around here somewhere," James said, as he recalled where he had tied his loose shoelace.

Suddenly they found themselves face to face with Ash and his friends.

"Team Rocket!" Ash shouted.

"The twerps!" Jessie also shouted.

"Aaah! That's our egg!" James yelled.

"Your egg?" Angie said, looking very suspiciously at the three villains.

"Well of course," Jessie spoke calmly, "we have been asked to bring it to safety."

"And who asked you to do that then?" Ash said, also not trusting this explanation.

"Professor Oak." Jessie said, while at the same time James said, "Nurse Joy, naturally."

"Come on guys," Meowth complained, "you are so bad at lying, even I don't believe you now..."

"Okay, we did steal that egg," Jessie admitted.

"And now we want it back!" James added.

"Yeah, that's a fact," Meowth concluded this little rhyme.

"Well, too bad for you, but we are going to take it back to it's parents, you thieves!" Angie yelled, as she picked up the egg from the ground.

"Oh, is that so?" Jessie said, with a devious smile on her face, "James?"

"Carnivine, come out and do Bullet Seed!" James ordered.

After first giving James a friendly greeting by chewing on his head, Carnivine sent a large volley of explosive seeds at Angie, who was holding the egg. She was hurled backwards by the blow, and had to let go off the egg.

"Seviper, catch that egg!" Jessie commanded, "and then do Haze!"

Seviper curled up the rear part of it's body, to form a little basket, and scooped up the egg before it hit the ground. Then the snake Pokémon covered the area in a thick black mist, causing Ash, Angie and Tracey to cough, and blocking their line of sight.

"Staravia, I choose you!" Ash shouted, "blow that mist away with your wings!"

"Starrravia!" the bird Pokémon said, as it obeyed Ash's order, clearing the surroundings of the smoke.

"Now where did Team Rocket go?" Ash wondered.

"There they are!" Tracey said as he pointed upwards to the sky, where Team Rocket was in their balloon.

"Staravia, do Wing Attack on the balloon!" Ash shouted.

"Oh no you don't!" Meowth yelled, as he pushed a button on a small remote control he was holding.

A little hatch on the bottom of the balloon opened, and a missile came out, that was fired at Staravia, who was now closing in on Team Rocket's balloon real fast. A few meters before the missile would hit the bird Pokémon, it suddenly fell apart, releasing a net, that captured Staravia.

"Oh no! Staravia!" Ash yelled, as he saw his Pokémon fall down, helplessly trying to flap it's wings.

Ash wanted to run towards the place Staravia was likely to hit the ground, but suddenly Angie put her hand on his shoulder, restraining him.

"Bulbasaur, come out and catch Staravia with your Vine Whip!" she commanded.

Quickly, Bulbasaur's vines were extended in the direction of the unfortunate Staravia, and caught it.

"Thanks Bulbasaur!" Ash said, as he padded Angie's Pokémon on it's back.

"Okay Ash, stand back," Angie warned him, "Bulbasaur, do Solar Beam!"

It was a sunny day, so it took hardly any time for Bulbasaur to get charged enough for this attack, and it released a blinding beam of light in the direction of Team Rocket's balloon. It was a direct hit, and a few seconds later it exploded.

"Well, now it's not my fault we lost the egg again," James pleaded.

"I say it still is, if you hadn't lost it in the first place, we would never have encountered those twerps," Jessie said.

"And I say next time we steal two eggs, so if we lose one, we still have one left," Meowth added.

"But for now, we are blasting off again!" all three villains yelled, as Wobuffet came out of it's Pokéball.

At the same time, our friends saw the egg falling down...

"Quick, we must do something!" Ash yelled.

"Bulbasaur, try to catch that egg with your vines!" Angie ordered.

"Bulba!" her Pokémon answered, to acknowledge her command.

But Bulbasaur missed this time, and the egg was still falling down! From the corner of his eye, Ash suddenly saw a yellow flash, zooming past him. It was Pikachu, using all it's speed to get to the egg in time. Using it's large tail for extra strength, it jumped up and zoomed towards the egg... and caught it!

"Nice job Pikachu!" Ash cheered.

"Yeah, well done!" Angie added, while comforting her Bulbasaur, who was now feeling a bit disappointed about missing the egg when it attempted to catch it.

Pikachu, walked back on it's rear legs, and handed over the egg to it's trainer.

"Now we have to find it's parents, so it can be safe," Ash said, looking determined.

"That could prove to be a challenge," Tracey remarked, "we don't even know from what kind of Pokémon this egg is."

"Oh..." Ash said, looking very disappointed.

"Tracey, your Venonat and Marill are excellent trackers, right?" Angie asked.

"Well... yes," Tracey answered.

"Can't they pick up the smell of the egg and somehow detect where it came from?" she suggested.

"I am afraid not, Marill can only hear very well, and Venonat has special vision, but we can give it a try," he agreed.

Tracey sent out his Marill and his Venonat, and let them examine the egg. At first the two Pokémon seemed clueless about what to do. Then Marill put it's ear against the shell, and seemed to listen with genuine concentration.

"Marill! Marill!" Tracey's water Pokémon uttered as it jumped up and down.

"Huh?" Ash wondered, "did it pick up something?"

"I get it!" Angie yelled, "Marill must have heard something from inside the egg!"

"From inside the egg?" Ash and Tracey both said, looking very surprised.

"Yes, that's right," Angie answered, "at the daycare center of my parents we have eggs regularly. When an egg is close to hatching, sometimes sounds can be heard from the inside. Some think that the baby Pokémon inside is trying to communicate with it's parents, to start building a bond before it is born. Others say it is just to signal it's parents it is close to hathing. Anyway, I think Marill has picked up that sound, and that may help us find out where this egg belongs." she explained.

"That would be great," Ash said, "is that true Marill?"

"Marill!" Tracey's Pokémon answered.

"I think Marill has really picked up something and wants us to follow it," Tracey translated what his Pokémon just said.

"Well, come on then!" Ash yelled, as he put the egg carefully in his backpack.

And so our three friends went off, following Tracey's Marill, hoping to soon find the parents of the egg they had found...

My 27th fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.


	2. Chapter 2

Episode 22: An Eggcellent Adventure (part 2)

The second part of episode 22 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

"Pfffff!" I forgot... pffffff.... how fast your Marill is..." Ash puffed.

"Yeah, when it's on to something, it's hard to keep up with it," Tracey agreed, also trying to catch his breath.

"This reminds me... pfff... of the marathon on the Summer Academy," Angie remarked, puffing as well.

Our heroes were still following Tracey's Marill, after it seemed to have heard some sounds that matched the sounds that had come from the egg, they found earlier that day. And although all this running had made them tired, there was no time for a break. The egg could be close to hatching, and it would be better if the parents of the egg were close by when that were to happen. Suddenly Ash felt his feet had no more resistance.

"Huh?" Ash said as he felt he was lifted up in the air a few meters.

"Ash! What is happening!?" Angie shouted, as she saw him moving upwards.

"Hahahahaha!" a familiar female voice laughed, and then "Is that the voice of a dangling twerp that I hear?"

"It's speaking to me loud and clear," an also familiar sounding male voice said.

"Between the branches," the woman continued.

"Past the trees," the male voice added.

"In your ears!" a catlike voice joined in.

"Bringing Chaos at a breakneck pace," the woman spoke.

"Dashing hope, putting fear in it's place," the man said.

"A rose by any other name is just as sweet," the woman spoke again.

"When everything's worse, our work is complete," the man continued.

"Jessie!" the woman introduced herself.

"James!" her companion did the same.

"And Meowth, now that's a name!" the catlike Pokémon added.

"Putting do-gooders in their place..." Jessie continued.

"We're Team Rocket..." James spoke once more.

"...in your face!" the three villains now said together.

"Wobba, wobba!" Wobbuffet closed the motto.

"It's Team Rocket!" Ash, Tracey and Angie said simultaneously.

Now they also saw what was holding Ash up. Team Rocket was floating above them in their balloon, and from the bottom of it came a large grappling hook, that held Ash by his backpack, keeping him a few meters above the ground.

"Meowth, it seems like we picked up some unnecessary ballast," Jessie remarked, referring to Ash.

"Right, I'm working on it!" the catlike Pokémon acknowledged as he operated some of the controls on a little box he was holding.

The grappling hook started shaking, and Ash fell out of the straps that held his backpack to his back.

"Look out below!" Meowth said at a mocking tone.

"Aaw!" Ash said as he fell down on the ground.

"Oh Ash...! Are you okay!?" Angie shouted as she ran towards him.

"Don't worry about me," Ash said, as he slowly got up with Angie's help, "they've got the egg again!"

"And we have to get it back real fast, or it will hatch without being close to it's parents," Tracey reminded them.

"Bulbasaur, come out and do Razor Leaf on that arm!" Angie shouted as she sent out her grass Pokémon.

But Bulbasaur's attack had no effect on the long metallic flexible arm that connected the grappling hook to Team Rocket's balloon.

"Save your energy," Jessie laughed, "this arm is protected against grass- and electric attacks."

"Then let's see how it holds up against my Scyther," Tracey suggested, "Scyther, do X-scissor on that arm!"

"Huh?" Jessie said surprised as Tracey's bug Pokémon came closer and cut the arm in two pieces with it's blades.

"Bulbasaur, catch that backpack, but very careful with the egg that's inside it!" Angie yelled as Ash's backpack came falling down.

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!" was her Pokémon's answer, as it made a sort of cradle with it's vines, and safely brought the backpack and it's precious content safely down to the ground.

"Pikachu, how about a little Thunder?" Ash suggested.

"Pika... Pikachuuuuu!" it sounded as Pikachu unleashed his electric energy on Team Rocket's balloon and it's passengers.

With a loud bang the balloon was blown apart, sending Jessie, James and Meowth flying away a high speed.

"I just can't keep track of all those new twerp Pokémon..." Meowth complained.

"I think we should make a list, I'll help you with it," James proposed.

"but first...." Jessie added.

"...we are blasting off again!" all three Team Rocket members yelled.

"Well. That's Team Rocket for today," Angie said, "how's the egg doing, Ash?"

"It seems to be okay, thanks to Bulbasaur," Ash replied, "but I think I can even feel it moving a bit, so we must hurry."

Our friends started chasing Marill again, which seemed to have found the direction again, of the sound it had picked up earlier. About fifteen minutes later, Marill suddenly stopped. They had reached a small open spot in the forest, and near a big old tree, they spotted a small group of Kangaskhan. At the sound of our friends approaching, the biggest Pokémon of the group, which was probably the leader of the herd, raised it's ears. It started sniffing loudly, and then looked rather menacing at the intruders.

"Ash, quickly, get the egg!" Angie shouted.

Ash took off his backpack, and took out the egg, laying it down on the ground just before him. Then everyone ran a few meters back, to create some safe distance between them and the angry Kangaskhan. The leader of the herd was now slowly stepping forward, and when it had reached the egg, bent over and sniffed it. Then it laid it's ear against the shell for a moment, and was suddenly startled.

"Khan!" it cried, apparently calling the others, as the remaining Kangaskhan now came running towards it immediately. They also sniffed the egg, and some listened to it as well. Then one of the smaller Pokémon took the egg, and put it in the pouch on it's belly. For a moment the group of Pokémon just stared at each other, and everything seemed okay. Then the large Kangaskhan started blazing, and suddenly came running towards our friends!

"Uh oh!" Tracey yelled, "I think it holds us for the thieves that stole their egg!"

"We'd better get out of here!" Ash shouted as he took Angie by the hand to take her along.

"Pikachuuu!" they suddenly heard, as Ash's yellow friend made a small Thunderbolt hit the ground, just in the path of the charging Kangaskhan.

The large Kangaskhan stopped, a bit dazed at this sudden unexpected action by Pikachu. Ash and his friends also stopped running, and turned around. Then Ash's Pokémon started 'talking' to the leader of the herd.

"Pika-pika... pi... pikachu! Chu... pikapi!" Pikachu said as it apparently had an animated conversation with the very angry Kangaskhan.

"Do you understand what it is saying Ash?" Angie asked.

"I think Pikachu is trying to explain that we didn't steal the egg, but came to return it," Ash guessed.

"Well, I hope it speaks Kangaskhan really well, or else we are toast," Tracey remarked.

"Khan!" the large Pokémon suddenly uttered, as it looked at Ash again.

"I have a feeling we'll soon know if it worked..." Ash said, trembling a little as the Kangaskhan stepped closer.

The Kangaskhan raised one of it's front paws up high, and Ash instinctively held his arm up to cover his head from the blow he was expecting. But nothing happened. He heard some twigs crack above his head, and lowered his arm again. Kangaskhan was holding out it's right front paw, and in it were some Pecha berries.

"Huh?" was all Ash could say.

"Khan...kangaskhan," the large Pokémon said, as it moved his paw a little closer to Ash.

"These are... for me?" Ash asked, still a little confused at this sudden turn of events.

"Pikachu," Ash little buddy said, while smiling and pointing at the berries Kangaskhan was offering.

"I think this is Kangaskhan's way of thanking you for returning their egg," Tracey suggested.

"Gee, thanks, Kangaskhan!" Ash said as he took the berries, "can my friends have some of them as well?"

"Khan," the big Pokémon uttered, as it nodded.

Ash gave some of the Pecha berries to Angie, Pikachu, Tracey, and his Marill. The soft and sweet berries tasted delicious, and were gone in a pinch.

"Ahhh! I feel a lot better now," Ash stated, "how about you Ange?"

"Yeah, that's just what I needed after all this running," Angie agreed.

"Marill! Marill!" Tracey's Pokemon cheered to indicate it also liked this little snack.

"I think we'd better leave those Kangaskhan alone now," Tracey proposed, "their egg is about to hatch and maybe they like a little time alone with their offspring then."

"Aaaww..." Ash said, a little disappointed.

"I think Tracey's right Ash," Angie replied, "at the daycare center of my parents, I was always told not to get too close to Pokémon with eggs. You might disturb the bonding process when the baby Pokémon hatches."

"Okay, I guess you two are right," Ash gave in.

"And maybe we'll meet those Kangaskhan later again, who knows?" Angie said to cheer Ash up a little.

Tracey made Marill return to it's Poké Ball, and our friends tried to find their way back to the main road again. But after wandering around for hours, they still they seemed hopelessly lost, since no one recognized anything they saw in these surroundings.

"We should have asked those Kangaskhan for directions," Angie sighed.

Ash wanted to say that these Pokémon were indeed probably better at reading a map than Angie demonstrated, but he managed to keep these words inside, as he noticed how tired she was.

"Maybe we should call it a day and make camp here?" Ash suggested.

"That's a good idea," Tracey agreed.

"Yes... please..." was all that Angie could say.

"Okay, Angie, you get a little rest, while Tracey and I put up the tents," Ash proposed.

Tracey wanted to protest against letting Angie off the hook on this job, but Ash managed to persuade him to let her be for a while. After a little rest, Angie felt better and began preparing dinner, later joined by Ash, who insisted on helping her. "That's so sweet of him," she thought, and she made sure Ash got an extra big spoonful of the dish they had been preparing together. Not too long after that, they went to their sleeping bags and everyone quickly fell asleep, hoping they would find their way again tomorrow...

My 28th fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.


	3. Chapter 3

Episode 23: One Badge, Two Badge!

Episode 23 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

It was a sunny day, with hardly a cloud to be seen in the sky. It was a good thing that Ash and his friends were still in the more dense areas of Viridian Forest, where it was still nicely cool. The sun did however wake them early this morning, and since they had no idea how long they still had to travel to get through the forest, it was decided to get moving early today.

"Can I see my... I mean our badge, for a moment?" Angie asked Ash.

"Sure," Ash replied, as he took the badge they won together in the Pewter Gym out off a small pocket on the inside of his jacket.

"I love how it shines in the sunlight," Angie said dreamily, while reminiscing the battle she and Ash had held together against Flint.

She had battled alongside Ash before, mostly against Team Rocket, but this one had been different. I was her first gym battle, so naturally she was a little nervous. And she also wanted to look good for Ash. But when she noticed how Ash didn't mind that her first moves didn't work out that well, and suggested to change opponents, it was like something took over. They worked so well together from that moment on, their Pokémon protecting each other, and moved at just the right time. "It seemed like poetry in motion," Angie thought. And winning that battle with this Boulder Badge as a reward, had made it simply perfect. But still she thought she had every right to this new badge as Ash.

"Can I keep it for a while?" Angie asked Ash.

"Huh,... why?" Ash wondered.

"Well, I have just as much right to have this badge as you, remember?" Angie said, a little annoyed about his answer.

"Uhm...I guess so, but..." Ash started.

"Oh, I see. Mr. I wanna be a Pokémon Master is too proud to share his latest badge with the trainer that helped him get it, right!?" Angie yelled.

"That's not what I..." Ash tried to defend himself, but Angie stopped walking.

"Fine, Ash Ketchum, I'll challenge you to a battle for this badge!" Angie said, as she took a Poké Ball from her belt.

Ash was baffled at this sudden outburst of competitiveness from his girlfriend, even though he knew that Angie could be just a hotheaded as he was. For that, Ash only had to remember the fierce way they had battled each other with the Pokémon they could temporarily use at the summer academy. "If the lady wants a battle, she can have it!" he thought.

"Okay, you're on!" Ash said, "Tracey, will you be the referee for this match?"

"Right!" Tracey answered, "each trainer will use just one single Pokémon, and the trainer who's Pokémon can no longer battle, looses."

"I'm ready!" Angie said, looking very eager to battle.

"Me too!" Ash replied, also ready for action.

"Shinx, come out!" Angie yelled, as she chose her Pokémon.

"Ah, so that's your choice," Ash said, "well, here's mine, Staravia, I choose you!"

"Huh?" Angie uttered surprised, "why use a flying type against an electric type?"

"You'll see..." Ash said with a devious smile on his face.

"Oh... you!" Angie grumbled, "we'll wipe that grin of your face soon enough! Shinx, do Thunder Fang!"

"Avoid it!" Ash responded.

Staravia moved fast and nimbly through the air, and dodged Shinx's attack with ease.

"You can't win if you keep running away, Ash!" Angie said, "Shinx, do Spark!"

This time Staravia was hit by Shinx's attack, and for a moment it seemed affected by it, but then it broke free from the electric charge.

"Way to go Staravia!" Ash complimented his Pokémon, "now do Aerial Ace!"

Angie remembered all too well that it was almost impossible to dodge this type of attack, especially when the Pokémon performing it was a well trained one, like Ash's Staravia. "Just let it come close," she thought, "and then we'll have a surprise for you Ash..."

"Shinx, just stay there," Angie ordered her Pokémon.

"Come on Angie, you can do better than that!" Ash yelled, but at the same time he wondered if letting Shinx just stand there was part of her strategy.

"Now, do Thunder Fang!" Angie yelled just as Staravia was about to crash into Shinx.

Staravia took a direct hit from the electric charge, as it bumped into Shinx, causing the little electric Pokémon to roll over backwards a few times. Staravia floated on a few meters, but then stopped and seemed almost frozen in time, as it hung in the air, struggling to get freed from the effects of Shinx's Thunder Fang. Shinx was still lying down on it's belly on the ground, but tried to get up.

"Come on Shinx!" Angie yelled, "I know you can do it!"

"Staravia, hang on!" Ash encouraged his Pokémon, which was still struggling to break free.

"Huh!? That's impossible!" Angie shouted as she saw Staravia free itself again from the effects of the electric attack by her Shinx.

"Staravia did a lot of training with Pikachu," Ash explained, "and from it has learned to deal with electric attacks."

"Oh no!" Angie said, as she now realized why Ash choose his bird Pokémon as opponent for her Shinx.

Staravia was gaining hight again, and was probably getting ready for a final attack on Shinx. Angie looked at her Pokémon, it was trying really hard to stand tall and continue, but she saw it was almost completely exhausted by the blow it took from Staravia. She wondered if it was still wise to go on with this battle. But before she could make up her mind about this, Shinx fainted, and fell down again. Angie ran towards it and picked her Pokémon up, asking it if it was okay. Shinx opened it's eyes again, and Angie sighed of relief.

"How is your Shinx doing?" Ash asked with a caring voice.

"It's very tired, but it will be fine," Angie replied, "you trained your Staravia really well Ash," she said as she gave him back the Boulder Badge.

"Thanks, but you also did good," Ash complimented her, "if Staravia hadn't been able to resist electric attacks so well as it did, you would surely have won."

"Yeah, well..." Angie started, but she was to disappointed to finish her sentence.

Ash noticed she was feeling rather bad about losing to Ash, and although she had been the one to come up with the idea in the first place, to battle him for sole possession of the Boulder Badge they won earlier, he still felt sorry for her. "Now there must be a way to..." Ash thought, and then it hit him.

"Tracey, can I borrow your Scyther for a few seconds?" Ash asked.

"Sure, but what do you need it for then?" Tracey asked, while Angie was also looking very surprised at Ash's request.

"You'll see..." Ash answered.

Ash threw the Boulder Badge up in the air, and asked Scyther to do Slash on it. Tracey's Pokémon obeyed and with it's sharp blades, cut right through the badge. Ash caught the pieces and sent Scyther back to Tracey, who made it return to it's Poké Ball. Ash walked towards Angie, who was still puzzled at his actions. She put her Shinx, now almost fully recovered again, back on the ground.

"Here you are," Ash said as he gave her one half of the Boulder Badge, that Scyther's sharp blades had cut right through the middle.

"Gee, thanks Ash," Angie replied.

"And if you ever need to show a complete badge, like when you want to challenge the Elite Four of Kanto or so, you can just borrow my half," Ash continued, as he put his half against the one he just gave Angie, and now it appeared just a regular badge. "Are you okay with that?"

"Of course I am!" Angie said as she put her free arm around Ash and gave him a hug. "But I don't have a case to put it in yet..."

"Hang on, maybe I've got something for you," Tracey remarked, as he started searching through the contents of his backpack. "Ah, there it is!"

Tracey took out a brand new trainer case, and handed it over to Angie.

"I got it from Professor Oak a while ago, but since I don't do gym battles, you all know drawing is my passion, I won't have any use for it, so you can have it if you want," Tracey explained.

"Thanks!" Angie shouted in joy as she gratefully accepted the case, "I owe you one for this!"

"Ah, don't mention it. Like I said, I would never have used it anyway," Tracey replied, as he was a little embarrassed at this gratitude.

Angie opened the trainer case and put in her half of the Boulder Badge. "Even half a badge still shines nicely in the sunlight," she thought with pride.

"Ash... I'm sorry I got all wound up and forced you into a battle over this," Angie apologized, as she looked down.

"No problem!" Ash quickly replied, "it was a nice training, right? And I am not so sure we will win again next time you challenge us."

Angie blushed at this sudden praise. She put away her newly acquired trainer case in her backpack, and they started walking again. Although no one had any idea where they were, it was clear that the forest was getting less dense. Soon everyone felt the heat of the sun, that was now almost at it's highest point, and was beating down on them.

"Hey! Look! Isn't that a lake over there?" Angie suddenly yelled.

"Ah, it's probably just an illusion..." Ash sighed, "this heat does those things to you..."

"I see it too Ash!" Tracey said, also very enthousiastic.

They ran forward, as fast as they still could, and found that the lake was real indeed.

"I'm going for a swim!" Angie remarked, and she quickly changed into her bathing suit behind a few nearby bushes.

Tracey and Ash also changed, but Ash was still reluctant to get into the water. After his near death experience when Hunter J. had dumped him into the sea, he had developed a fear of open water. It had taken Angie a lot of persuasion to make him go on that trip on the lake in Cerulean Town, a while ago, but that didn't imply getting into the water, so Ash had given in then. But this seemed like a bridge too far for him.

"Ash, you should come too. The water is so nice and refreshing!" Angie yelled to him.

"Nah... I don't feel like swimming today," Ash tried to decline her invitation.

"You don't know what you are missing!" Tracey said, as he held on to his Marill that was moving through the water at high speed.

Angie saw Ash still hesitating, and swam to the shore, to whisper something to her Shinx. Ash was standing close to the shore, but still looked unwilling to enter the water.

"Shinx, now!" Angie shouted, and her Pokémon made a Spark attack impact on the ground a few centimeters from where Ash was standing.

"Whoo...oow!" Ash yelled as he jumped up in fear... and splashed into the water.

"So you decided to join us after all?" Tracey remarked.

"Well...don't you agree the water is really nice?" Angie asked Ash.

"I guess you are right..." Ash said, a little ashamed of his fear of getting into the water.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Angie suddenly asked.

"Huh... where?" Ash said, as he turned his head around.

"Down there!" Angie laughed as she pushed his head under water.

Ash came up again, coughing and squirting a little jet of water from his mouth, like a very weak Water Gun attack. For a moment Angie thought she might have gone too far with this, knowing about Ash's fear of water. Ash slowly turned around and looked at Angie with a seemingly angry look on his face. Then his features softened and he started to smile.

"Oh, you are so gonna get it!" Ash said as he moved towards Angie, who screamed as she tried to escape from Ash's impending "revenge".

After playing in the water for a while, everyone got on shore again. It was now past noon, and our friends started feeling hungry. Angie made a few sandwiches, which were very welcome after all that swimming. Since it was now getting too hot to travel any further, they decided to make camp here. Maybe tomorrow they would finally find out where they were exactly.

My 29th fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.


	4. Chapter 4

Episode 24: Blown Away!

Episode 24 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

Today the weather had changed a lot since the heat of the previous days. It was still quite warm, but the sky was all clouded over.

"I don't like the looks of that, guys..." Tracey remarked, as they were busy breaking up their tents.

"Pika..." Ash's Pokémon uttered as it stared at the sky.

"What's wrong Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"I think it senses that the weather is going to change," Angie explained, "Pokémon often feel that, sometimes even long before we notice it."

After swimming in the lake yesterday, they had discovered a path nearby, with a sign that read "V ri n C y" in very weathered and vague writing. Although the sign was clearly very old, it was very likely it indicated the direction to Viridian City, so they decided to follow the path. As they were going, the weather started to get worse. Some raindrops could be felt, and soon it started to rain much harder.

"We have to find a shelter somewhere," Tracey suggested, "or we'll get soaked in no time."

"Right!" Ash and Angie both agreed.

The forest was however not that dense in this area, and sometimes they could see lightning in the sky, so hiding underneath a tree wasn't the smartest thing to do. Then Angie noticed a small shed, just a few hundred meters away from the path. They ran towards it, and opened the door...

"It looks deserted..." Ash remarked, "but I can hardly see anything with those shutters closed."

"Let me handle that," Angie replied, as she sent out her Shinx, and asked it to do Flash.

That did really help, now they could see much better. It was clearly an old barn, probably used for storage once. The wind outside was clearly getting stronger, causing the barn to make some cracking noises as the wind was beating against the sides. There was a lot of dust everywhere, and Ash had to sneeze because of it.

"Gesundheit!" they suddenly heard from a corner of the room.

"Ssssshhht!" They heard another voice say.

"Is someone there...?" Ash asked, a bit scared, "Angie, can you ask Shinx to shine in that corner?"

"Right, Ash," and Angie did as Ash requested.

Shinx illuminated the corner from which the voices had been coming. Suddenly our friends saw who these belonged to.

"Team Rocket!" Ash and his companions shouted.

"Twerps!" Jessie, James and Meowth yelled.

"We found this shelter first, you go find your own!" Jessie sneered.

"Yes, take a hike!" Meowth added.

"But... it is really bad weather outside guys..." James objected, "can't we send them away when the storm is over?"

"Shut up, James!" Jessie shouted, not amused at his objections.

"Yes, can't we have a truce for as long as the storm is raging?" Ash proposed.

"We don't make deals with twerps!" Jessie shouted again, and she sent out her Seviper.

"Okay, if you want a battle you can have it!" Ash reacted, "Pikachu, do Thunderbolt!"

But before Ash's Pokémon could perform it's attack, they heard more cracking noise, and suddenly the roof was lifted up by the storm. Everyone had to hold on to something, in order not to get sucked into the vortex of the whirlwind that was now right above the barn. Jessie's Seviper had it's tail wound around a bar, that was fastened to the wall, and Jessie held on to it. James was holding Jessie by one of her legs, and Meowth was hanging on to one of James's boots. Ash, Tracey and Angie were also trying hard no to get sucked up by the whirlwind. There were a few supports in the middle of the room, and these were connected to the frame on which the roof had rested, before it was blown away. Tracey held on to one of them, and Ash and Angie were clinging to the other one. Angie managed to get her Shinx into it's Poké Ball, but Ash's Pikachu was holding on to his backpack, with all it's force. It's paws started losing grip, so it had to use it's teeth as well, to desperately hold on to Ash. Then the boot Meowth was holding on to, slipped of James's foot, and Meowth was blown upwards, into the storm. The boot was also sucked in, but before that happened, it hit Pikachu, forcing it to let go, and Pikachu was also sucked up by the storm!

"No! Pikachu!!" Ash yelled, as he let go off the support he was holding.

"Ash, no!" Angie shouted, and she grabbed him with her right hand, "there is nothing you can do! You won't help Pikachu by putting yourself in danger!"

"Let me go!" Ash replied, but he realized Angie was right, and with her help, managed to pull himself back to the pillar.

"Pikachu!! Pikachuuu!!!" Ash cried in despair, as a tear formed in the corner of his eye.

"Meowth! You come back here right now!" Jessie yelled, as if Meowth even had a chance of simply walking back.

Then, as sudden as the whirlwind had struck the barn, it disappeared, and only the rain falling through the opening where the roof once was, reminded them of the dangerous events of less than a minute ago. Ash pulled his cap over his eyes, and fell down on his knees. Angie sat down beside him, and put her arm around him, to provide some comfort.

"We'll get Pikachu back, Ash," she whispered to him, as she held Ash tight.

"Where is Meowth!?" Jessie yelled at James.

"I don't know..." James answered, looking a bit numb because of their Pokémon partner gone missing, "he couldn't hold on to my boot when the whirlwind hit us..."

"You mean... he blasted away without us?" Jessie said, with a slightly emotional tone in her voice.

Everyone stepped outside, but there wasn't a trace of Meowth or Pikachu. The rain had stopped now, and there were even some openings forming in the clouded sky.

"Pikachu!" Ash called, "Pikachu, where are you buddy!?"

Angie and Tracey also called Ash's Pokémon a few times, but there was no response. Jessie and James tried to call their Pokémon friend, but still to no avail. Then Jessie and James walked towards each other and started whispering. Ash and his friends noticed it, and also came close together, expecting some attack or other foul plan of their opponents. The two remaining Team Rocket members stopped whispering and faced Ash, Angie and Tracey.

"Uhm... I think we should...uh.... work together..." Jessie proposed, although it clearly cost her a lot of trouble to say those words.

"You what!?" Ash said, surprised and angry at the same time, "after all the trouble you caused us in the past?"

"It's simple. You want to find Pikachu, we want Meowth back," Jessie explained, "and since the storm could have blown them away almost anywhere and this is a large area, we can cover much more ground when we combine our searching efforts. My Yanmega can help searching from the sky for example."

"As much as I also dislike the idea of teaming up with them, she has a point," Angie said to Ash, and Tracey nodded to show he agreed with this.

"Okay, fine. But no dirty tricks or else..." Ash threatened.

"We? Dirty tricks? No way! We swear on Meowth's tail, okay?" Jessie answered.

"Deal! Now let's get on with the searching!" Ash said, eager to get his little friend back.

Jessie sent out her Yanmega, while Ash chose Staravia. Tracey used both his Scyther, to look from the sky, as well as Marill and Venonat, his tracking Pokémon, to search on the ground. Meanwhile, some distance from where Ash, his friends and his temporal allies were, a drop of water fell on the face of a familiar yellow Pokémon.

"Pika..." a weak voice said.

"Ah, you're awake again," Meowth replied.

But at the same time the feline Pokémon thought "this is my chance to grab that little Pokémon battery while it is still weak, hehehehehe." Meowth raised it's paws and walked with a vicious smile on his face towards Pikachu. But then Meowth heard a strange sound, that came from somewhere around them, making him shiver. "On second thought, it might come in handy to have Pikachu around when we meet some other, stronger Pokémon..." and Meowth decided to let go of his "let's steal Pikachu plans" for the moment.

"Are you feeling okay?" Meowth asked, "wait, I think I have a cookie somewhere. I wanted to save it, to share it with Jessie and James, but since they are not here..."

"Pika... pikachu?"Ash's Pokémon reacted, surprised at this sudden unusually friendly behavior of the catlike Pokémon.

"Go on, take it, it's not a trick, you know," Meowth tried to assure Pikachu, as he offered half a cookie to it.

"Pika...? Pika!" Pikachu answered as it accepted the food.

"Now I don't suppose you have any idea where we landed, right?" Meowth asked.

"Chu..." Pikachu replied as it bent down it's head.

"Well, then we'd better get moving and try to find the main road again," Meowth suggested, and they started walking.

Back to where our friends were, the search for Pikachu and Meowth still went on.

"What do you mean you didn't see anything!?" Jessie sneered at Yanmega, "keep on looking and don't come back until you find Meowth!"

"Jessie, it almost seems like you care for our feline friend," James said, surprised at this display of determination by Jessie to find Meowth.

"Huh?" Jessie reacted surprised, as James was staring at her. "No way, I just bet he has some hidden supply of food with him, and is eating it all by himself!" she ranted, but deep inside she was also worried about what happened to Meowth.

After a while, they had still not discovered any trace of the missing Pokémon, and Ash started to give up hope a little. Angie noticed this, and came to his side.

"You shouldn't give up Ash," she tried to encourage him, "remember that Pikachu is a strong Pokémon."

"Thanks..." Ash replied, as he looked into her eyes, "I needed that."

"Guys, I may have an idea how we can find Pikachu," Tracey said, "and Meowth," he quickly added as he noticed Jessie glaring at him.

"How?" Ash asked.

"Well, it seems the whirlwind damaged a lot of trees as it went by," Tracey explained, "if we follow the trail of trees that are damaged, we have a pretty good idea of the path the whirlwind took, and we may find traces of our missing Pokémon along that path."

"Excellent idea!" Angie said as she complimented Tracey with it.

"Hmmm, even I have to admit that is pretty smart for a twerp," Jessie admitted.

So they followed the trail of broken branches and trees that apparently had taken a beating from the whirlwind, when suddenly Tracey's Venonat stopped.

"Did you see something?" Tracey informed.

"Venonat...venonat!" the bug Pokémon enthusiastically uttered, as it raced forward towards a few bushes.

"What is it?" Ash asked as they came closer.

"Hey, that's my missing boot!" James shouted, "I'm so glad I found you again! Ah.. that's much better!" he said, as he put it on again.

"Do you know what that means?" Jessie asked.

"Of course, now I can walk straight again," James answered, oblivious to what Jessie was hinting at.

"No, it means we are getting closer to Meowth, you fool!" she yelled at him.

"She's right Ash," Angie said, "maybe now is a good time to let Staravia fly up again and check if it can see something."

"Staravia, go up and see if you can find Pikachu!" Ash ordered.

"Yanmega, you do the same!" Jessie added.

"Pikachu!" Ash called, "Pikachuuu!!"

"Meowth! If you can hear us, say something!" James shouted.

Not too far away from there, Pikachu's ears twitched a little.

"Pika!" it cried, "Pipika...pikachu!"

"Huh?" Meowth responded, "you say you heard your twe... I mean trainer?"

"Pikachu!" the little yellow Pokémon answered, while nodding.

"Jessie! James! Over here!" Meowth yelled.

At the same time, Tracey's Marill seemed to have picked up some sounds, and started running off.

"Here we go again!" Ash shouted as he tried to keep up with the fast Pokémon.

"Pikachu!" Angie yelled, while running closely behind Ash.

"Pikaaa!" they all suddenly heard from the distance.

"Pikachu? Is that you buddy?" Ash yelled, with his eyes sparkling.

They came around a bend in the path, and there they saw Meowth and Pikachu.

"Are you alright?" Ash asked, and Pikachu raised it's right paw to indicate it was fine.

"Okay, now that we've found our missing friends, it's time for Plan B!" Jessie stated, with a devious smile. "James, I said it's time for Plan B, what's keeping you so long!?"

"Just a moment, dear," James answered as he was wrestling with the controls on a little box he was holding, "this is usually Meowth's job. Ah, there it is!"

Suddenly a net fell down from the sky, and covered Pikachu.

"Hey, what is the meaning of this?" Ash shouted.

"Hahahaha!" Jessie laughed, "since we now have what we were looking for, our deal is off."

"Is that your way of thanking us for our help!?" Angie yelled, angry because of this sudden betrayal.

"Uh James... now would be a good time to send our balloon down, so we can escape..." Jessie said, acting a bit nervous.

"Hmmmpfff, I can't find the right button," James explained.

"Give me that!" Meowth snapped at James, "before you break something, like your brains or so."

Meowth sent the balloon down, and the three villains hopped in.

"You're not getting away with this!" Ash shouted, "Pikachu, hang in there! I'll get you out!"

"Ash, I'll help you!" Angie added, "Bulbasaur, come out and do Razor Leaf on that net!"

"Hah, like that's gonna work," Jessie mocked, "we have a net that is resistant to any sharp object, so you might as well give up now."

Bulbasaur's sharp leaves hit the net, and... cut it into little pieces, releasing Pikachu.

"But... how is that possible?" Jessie wondered.

"Well, it seems James pressed the wrong button, and this was the net that can only absorb electric attacks," Meowth explained.

"I told you that it was Meowth's job to operate these things," James defended himself, covering his head with his arm at the same time, to shield it from the blow he was expecting Jessie to give him.

"Hey... Team Rocket!" Ash shouted, "I think Pikachu wants to thank you for your help!"

"Huh!?" all three members responded.

"Pikachuuuu!!!" was the next thing they heard, as a vicious Thunderbolt hit their balloon, and caused it to explode.

"Well, at least we are complete again..." Jessie sighed.

"And I have my boot back," James said, smiling.

"Will you stop talking about that stupid boot, or I'll make you feel mine!" Jessie sneered.

"Thanks for coming for me guys," Meowth said, "so now we can be together as..."

"...we're blasting off again!" all three yelled together, as they disappeared in the distance.

Pikachu jumped into Ash's arms and Ash gave it a big hug.

"Great to have you back, buddy!" Ash said, "Thanks for your help, Angie."

"Any time Ash, you know that," she answered, as she blushed slightly at this praise.

"And your Pokémon were also a great help, Tracey," Ash continued.

"No problem, Ash. I'm glad we could help get Pikachu back," Tracey answered, "but it seems like the weather is okay again, shall we go on?"

"Right!" Ash and Angie both said simultaneously.

And our heroes continued walking along the path that seemed to be leading to Viridian City, hoping to finally reach their next destination soon...

My 30th fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.


	5. Chapter 5

Episode 25: Back on Track! (part 1)

Part 1 of episode 25 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

A new day welcomed our heroes with a sunny smile. Yesterday they had been following the path that was supposed to lead to Viridian City, but as they got further, the path became less clearly visible, and more and more overgrown, till at a sudden point, there was no path left. Everyone was very disappointed at this new setback. No one hardly spoke when they put up their tents and even during dinner. Ash was the first to really break the silence.

"I suppose none of you have an idea to get out of this forest?" Ash asked.

"Well, we could ask Tracey to have a look at the map," Angie suggested.

"Huh, me?" Tracey replied very surprised.

"Well, you are good with drawings right?" Angie explained, "and a map is just like a big drawing."

"And besides, you can't do any worse than Angie and I did," Ash added.

"Yeah, that's really motivating..." Tracey replied, "well, okay... let me have a look then."

Tracey studied the map while Ash and Angie were watching him carefully.

"Hmmmm..." Tracey pondered, "...if this is that path over there...."

"Did you see something?" Ash asked eagerly.

"Perhaps..." Tracey answered, "it's possible this line over here is that old path that we have been following up till where we are now. If that's the case, the main road is over there, and we should be able to reach it in a few hours walking."

"Well, it's worth the try, right Angie?" Ash commented.

"I guess you have a point there," Angie replied, who also longed to sleep in a real bed for a change.

"Okay, agreed, tomorrow we'll try your plan, Tracey," Ash said.

"Just don't get your hopes too high, okay?" Tracey remarked, as he tried to lower the expectations of his two friends a little, after noticing how full of hope they looked at him when he mentioned he might have found the way out off here.

So the next day they took off in the direction where the main road was supposed to be, according to Tracey. It seemed like he really knew where they were going now, or at least kept up the appearance of knowing it quite well. After about an hour walking, Pikachu suddenly stopped.

"Pika..." the little electric mouse Pokémon almost grumbled, as sparks formed on it's cheeks.

"What is it, buddy?" Ash informed.

"I hope it's not another storm," Angie said, as a slight shiver ran down her spine, "it's bad enough we got lost here in this large forest..."

"Well what have we got here?" a familiar but not too welcome voice spoke as someone stepped out of the bushes.

"Paul!" our three friends called out together.

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked, immediately taking on a defensive attitude.

"I was hoping to find some strong Pokémon here, but I should have known better," Paul explained, "with such weak trainers around in this region, like you, the wild Pokémon seem to have adapted to that."

"What!?" Ash shouted, infuriated.

"Oh, and it is just something for a weak trainer like you to get lost in this forest," Paul added another insult.

"That does it!" Ash thought, "someone needs to teach this jerk a lesson! I just hope my Pokémon are strong enough this time to defeat Paul's..." Ash wanted to step forward and challenge Paul, but he felt a hand suddenly resting on his shoulder. It was Angie.

"Don't do it Ash," she advised him, "he's just trying to get to you again. Just let him be."

"Hey, so you're still traveling with that loser?" Paul now addressed Angie, "I thought you were wiser than that..."

"Seriously, what is your problem Paul!?" Angie replied, her eyes now looking all fiery it even scared Ash a little.

"My only problem is that I keep running into those weak trainers like Ash again," Paul answered, "and that this weakness seems to be contagious."

"And what is that supposed to mean!?" Angie countered his remark, her fists now clenched.

"If the shoe fits..." Paul said, looking with clear contempt at our three friends, and a little longer at Angie.

"Okay, that's enough!" Angie yelled, "I want a battle, right here, right now!"

"But Angie..." Ash said, surprised that she demanded to battle Paul while a minute ago she was able to convince Ash not to pay attention to Paul's insults.

"I know Ash, it may not be very smart to do this, but Paul's gone too far this time," she explained to Ash.

"Can we get on with this?" Paul said, impatient as always.

"Tracey, will you be the referee for this one?" Angie asked, "that is, if Paul doesn't object to that...for a change..."

"Fine with me..." Paul replied as his usual uninterested sounding voice.

"Okay, since Angie has only two Pokémon, this will be a two versus two battle. No changing of Pokémon during the match, and the first trainer to be out of usable Pokémon loses," Tracey stated the rules, "Trainers ready? Go!"

"Shinx! Come out!" Angie shouted, sending out her first Pokémon.

"Staraptor, don't let me down this time, okay?" Paul said as he threw his first Poké Ball.

"Now why would he choose a Pokémon that is weak to electric attacks...?" Angie wondered, "it's just like when I battled Ash, and he chose Staravia..." Then she looked at Pikachu and it hit her. "Paul has an Electabuzz, right?" she thought, "so Paul probably also made it train with his Staraptor to make it get more resistant to electricity. So I'd better keep my wits."

"Are you going to make a move, or what?" Paul grunted.

"Oh, we will..." Angie said, with a focused look on her face, "Shinx, do Spark!"

Paul's Staraptor didn't even try to dodge the attack and took a direct hit. But just like Angie anticipated, the bird Pokémon was barely affected by the electricity. "So that indeed doesn't work," Angie thought, "time for a change of strategy,"

"Staraptor! Brave Bird! Now!" Paul's short command sounded, waking Angie from her thoughts.

Shinx was hit pretty hard, and rolled backwards a few times, before coming to a standstill, lying face down on the ground.

"Oh! Shinx!" Angie yelled, very concerned for her little buddy.

Shinx slowly got up again and shook the dust off it's fur.

"Shinx, can you still go on?" Angie asked.

"Shinx, shinx!" her electric Pokémon answered, sounding okay.

"Alright!" Angie said, much relieved.

"Come on Angie! Go Shinx!" Ash cheered for them.

"Thanks Ash!" Angie responded, now feeling even more determined than before to defeat Paul.

"While you two are babbling, you don't mind if I continue battling, or do you?" Paul mocked them, "Staraptor, do Wing Attack!"

"Hang on Shinx, just wait..." Angie ordered, much to everyone's surprise.

Staraptor was closing fast on Angie's Shinx, still standing motionless, waiting for orders from it's trainer. Ash grumbled a little, as he was expecting Paul to knock out his girlfriend's Pokémon any second now. Staraptor was now only a few meters away...

"Shinx, dodge it with Quick Attack!" Angie suddenly commanded.

Shinx instantly reacted, using it's agility to avoid Staraptor's attack. Paul wasn't very impressed however.

"Now jump up and do Iron Tail!" Angie continued.

"Huh?" Ash thought when he heard her give that order, "I never knew Shinx learned that move..."

Shinx jumped up high in the air, making Staraptor lose track of it momentarily, then came crashing down on the bird Pokémon with a powerful Iron Tail. Paul's Pokémon was smacked down on the ground, and lied down for a few seconds. Tracey was about to call out Shinx had won this round, but Paul interrupted him, by raising his hand.

"Get up, you're not done yet!" Paul yelled.

Staraptor opened it's eyes again, and looked still determined to continue battling.

"That's better, no do Brave Bird, so we can wrap this up!" Paul continued.

"Starrraptorrr!" his Pokémon acknowledged his trainer's order and flew up to gain speed.

"Just try to dodge this one!" Paul yelled at Angie.

"Shinx, move closer to those trees!" Angie said in response.

Staraptor seemed like it was about to break the sound barrier as it swooped down on Angie's Shinx.

"Shinx, jump up and spin around, like you've seen Pikachu do before!" Angie shouted, as Staraptor was now very close.

Angie had seen how Ash used this technique a few times, making his Pokemon spin around their axis, and creating a small air cushion between them and the attacking Pokémon, causing the attack to miss. He told her Dawn had once come up with this neat little trick to perform better in contests, and Ash had adapted it for use in battles. Although Angie hadn't practiced this move with Shinx yet, she realized it was her only chance. Shinx managed to get enough rotational speed to avoid a direct impact but was still hit hard by one of Staraptors wings as it flew past.

Now it became clear why Angie made her Shinx take position closer to the trees, as Paul's Pokémon was now flying towards them, with all the energy it had been building up when it was preparing it's attack still almost fully there, unable to stop or turn away.

"Staraptorrr!?" Paul's Pokémon cried, as it realized it was going to fast to pull up or avoid the trees.

Paul's Pokémon first crashed into a smaller tree, breaking it into pieces in it's stride, but then it hit a second tree, a much thicker one, and this stopped it in it's tracks. Staraptor passed out, and Tracey made the call, stating this Pokémon was out off commission. Shinx was also lying on the ground, still feeling the effects of the blow it received as it tried to avoid Staraptor's attack, and only partially succeeded in doing that.

"Oh, Shinx! Are you alright!?" Angie informed, concerned about her Pokémon.

Shinx managed to get up again, and although it looked a little tired now, it was clear it wanted to continue.

"Way to go Shinx!" Ash cheered, "just one more to go, Angie!"

"I am looking forward to what you have to say for yourself to explain this defeat," Paul started, as he made Staraptor return to it's Poké Ball.

"You know Staraptor did what he could," Angie commented.

"Let's just agree you mind your own Pokémon, while I mind my own business, okay?" Paul replied, "now, Electabuzz, I hope you perform better than my previous choice."

Paul threw his second Poké Ball, and his electric Pokémon appeared, swinging it's arms wildly above it's head to intimidate it's opponent.

"Do Thunder!" Paul commanded.

Before Shinx could react, it was hit by this powerful electric attack, and since it was already quite exhausted from it's battle against Staraptor, this was simply too much.

"Shinx is no longer able to battle, Electabuzz wins!" Tracey called out.

"You did really well Shinx, now get some rest," Angie said as she made her Pokémon return to it's Poké Ball, "now Bulbasaur, it's up to you!"

"Bulba!" Angie's Pokémon answered, eager to battle again.

"Do Thunder again!" Paul ordered.

Bulbasaur didn't get the time to dodge this attack, and shivered as the electric charge struck it. For a moment it seemed paralyzed as a result, but then it shook the charge off.

"Okay, no do Vine Whip!" Angie commanded.

Electabuzz covered it's head with it's arms to shield itself from Bulbasaur's vines that pounded it.

"Enough! Do Thunder Punch!" Paul yelled.

"Grab Electabuzz with your vines and smash it into the ground" was Angie's response.

Bulbasaur intercepted Electabuzz, and lifted it up, then hurled it's opponent down to the ground. With a loud crash and a lot of dust blowing around, Paul's Pokémon hit the dry soil. "Was that it already?" Ash wondered. But as the dust slowly cleared, Electabuzz was still standing, looking a bit scruffy, but even more enraged than at the beginning of the battle.

"Do Brick Break!" Paul commanded.

"Dodge it, then do Solar Beam!" Angie reacted.

Bulbasaur managed to dodge the attack at first, but although the sun was shining, it wasn't sunny enough to have it's Solar Beam fully charged before Electabuzz could do Brick Break for a second time, hitting Bulbasaur right on top of the head, leaving it dazed.

"Now, finish it with Thunder Punch!" Paul yelled, trying to end this battle in his favor.

"Bulbasaur, can you continue?" Angie asked.

"Saur!" it said while nodding.

"Okay, try to finish that Solar Beam then!" Angie continued.

Since Bulbasaur was still almost fully charged, it was able to fire it's Solar Beam just as Electabuzz hit it with Thunder Punch. Both Pokémon disappeared in a flash of light, after which an explosion occurred, blasting both Pokémon meters back in different directions, where they rolled over the ground a few times, before coming to a standstill. What would the outcome be...?

My 31st fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.


	6. Chapter 6

Episode 25: Back on Track! (part 2)

Part 2 of episode 25 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

Everyone looked anxiously to find out what the outcome would be of the clash between Angie's Bulbasaur and Paul's Electabuzz. Angie ran up to her Pokémon to check on it, but then bowed her head down. Bulbasaur was knocked out, so she made it return to it's Poké Ball to get some rest. Paul's Pokémon still seemed to be trying to get up, but then it fell down again, and didn't move anymore. Tracey walked up to Electabuzz to see how it was doing. He took a good look and then...

"Electabuzz is no longer able to battle!" Tracey declared, "it's a draw!"

"What!?" Paul shouted, and then, "yeah, whatever..." he continued, then turning towards Angie, "I've got to hand it to you, you're not half as bad as I expected. Which is more than I can say of my Pokémon..."

"You know they all worked very hard for you," Angie responded, "give them a break for once!"

"Remember what I said before about everyone minding his own business?" Paul replied.

"Why do you have to be so hard on your Pokémon?" Angie asked, but Paul already turned around, and walked away.

"Be seeing ya..." was all our friends heard him say before he disappeared in the distance.

"I wonder if anyone will ever be able to reach him..." Angie said to Ash and Tracey.

"Well, at least you did teach him a lesson," Ash remarked.

"What do you mean?" Angie asked, "I didn't beat him."

"But you also didn't lose, while Paul was expecting to beat you easily, hands down," Ash explained, "so I am very proud of you," and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh... Ash..." Angie whispered, while blushing at this sudden praise.

"I agree with Ash," Tracey added, "Paul never expected anything but winning with little effort. It may seem like he just blames his Pokémon for the outcome of this battle, but I wouldn't be surprised if he blames himself even more."

"Hey, maybe you're right," Ash said, "I remember blaming my Pokémon once for losing an important battle, but later realized it was not their fault, but mine."

"I really hope Paul will reach the same conclusion then..." Angie added.

Our friends picked up their backpacks again, and started walking. Some time later, Angie slowed down, and then she stopped completely.

"What is it, Ange?" Ash asked.

"I thought I saw something moving in the bushes to the right of us," Angie explained.

"Maybe it's Paul, looking for a rematch," Tracey joked.

"Paul, if it's you, stop spying on us, and show yourself!" Ash shouted.

But there was no reaction from the bushes, except for some rustling. They walked along but the rustling seemed to follow them.

"There is definitely something out there," Angie said, and she had hardly finished saying that, or a Pokémon jumped out off the bushes.

"It's a Zigzagoon!" Tracey stated.

"Maybe it's hungry, and is following us hoping we drop some food or so," Ash suggested.

"I think I have a poffin here somewhere..." Angie said, "ah... here it is. Let's see what happens when I lay it down here."

For a moment the Zigzagoon stood there, motionless, but then it slowly walked towards the small treat Angie had laid down on the ground, while looking around carefully. Finally judging it to be safe to get closer, the Zigzagoon ran the last few meters to the poffin, and started eating.

"It is hungry alright," Ash remarked.

"Yeah, seeing it eat reminds me of a certain trainer I know..." Angie teased him.

"Oh, does it...?" Ash said, looking a bit insulted.

"Actually it reminds me of two trainers I know..." Tracey commented, looking at Ash and Angie.

"Zagoon" the small Pokémon uttered, as if it was asking for more poffins.

"I'm sorry, that was the last one," Angie apologized, "we've been traveling in this forest for so long, our supplies are wearing thin, I'm afraid. But if you come along with us, you can get more poffins, when we reach Viridian City."

"Zig..zigzagoon!" their guest answered, seeming to like that idea.

"Why don't you try to catch it?" Ash proposed, "it seems to like you, and don't you think you could use an extra Pokémon?"

"Well, it sure is a cute one," Angie admitted, as she went looking in her backpack, "now where did I... ah, there are my empty Poké Balls..."

But as soon as Zigzagoon saw Angie taking out a Poké Ball, it whacked it out off her hands with it's tail, and ran away a few meters, before turning around.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Angie wondered, "don't you want to go with us Zigzagoon?"

"Goon! Zigzagoon!" the Zigzagoon answered, looking like it was ready to attack.

"I think it wants you to battle with it first, to see if you are worthy enough as a trainer to catch it," Tracey explained.

"That must be it, I've seen that before with other Pokémon I encountered," Ash added.

"Okay, but I can't battle it now..." Angie said, disappointed, "Bulbasaur and Shinx are still recovering from their battle with Paul's Pokémon..."

"I may have a solution for that," Ash said, "Pikachu, will you help Angie to catch that Zigzagoon?"

"Pikachu!" Ash's little buddy answered, as it jumped ahead to face Zigzagoon.

"Alright! Thanks Pikachu! And you too Ash," Angie quickly added.

"No problem, good luck!" Ash replied.

"Pikachu, do Thunderbolt please!" Angie started the battle.

Zigzagoon was however very agile, and dodged this attack with ease.

"That Zigzagoon is really fast!" Angie said, "Pikachu, now try Quick Attack!"

Using all it's speed and agility, Pikachu tried to hit it's opponent again, but even at full speed, it was unable to keep up with the Zigzagoon, and it missed once more. Now the Zigzagoon thought it was time to attack as well, and before Pikachu could react, it was hit with a strong Tackle, causing it to roll over a few times, before stopping Pikachu was able to stop it's movement by digging it's tail into the soil.

"This isn't going to work..." Angie thought out loud.

"Maybe you can try the Counter Shield technique," Ash suggested.

"Great idea, Ash!" Angie replied, "Pikachu, when Zigzagoon tries another attack again, use Counter Shield, okay?"

"Pika!" Ash's Pokémon acknowledged.

"I think Zigzagoon is trying a Headbutt now!" Tracey shouted.

"Okay Pikachu, do it, now!" Angie yelled.

Zigzagoon came running closer, but as it was about to hit Pikachu, it crashed into the wall of electricity, Pikachu's Counter Shield had created. Zigzagoon didn't seem to have taken much damage from this collision, but it did have some trouble moving afterwards.

"I think it is paralyzed by Pikachu's electricity," Ash shouted, "now's your chance Angie!"

"Pikachu, do Iron Tail!" Angie commanded.

Zigzagoon was indeed paralyzed, and was unable to dodge the attack this time, leaving it even more dazed now as it was hit again.

"Now, finish it with Volt Tackle!" Angie shouted, feeling completely in control of the situation now.

Pikachu hit the Zigzagoon head on, and it was hurled backwards when this strong attack hit it. As it landed on the ground again, it looked too weak to get up.

"Poké Ball, go!" Angie shouted as she threw an empty Poké Ball.

Zigzagoon was drawn inside, but although it looked very weakened by Pikachu's attacks, the Poké Ball kept wiggling.

"Come on... come on!" Angie said, as she anxiously watched the ball that was still moving.

Then the ball popped open again, and Zigzagoon came out, panting from exhaustion.

"Aw, it was so close," Angie said, disappointed.

"Just try it again," Ash suggested, "it looks like it can't keep on fighting much longer."

"Yeah, I think that trying to escape from your first ball, cost it all it's remaining energy," Tracey added, "it must be purely a matter of willpower that it didn't faint yet."

"Okay, here comes number two! Poké Ball, now!" Angie shouted as she tried to catch Zigzagoon again.

Zigzagoon entered the second Poké Ball, but even now it started to wiggle again.

"It sure is a tough one..." Ash spoke, "look how it is still putting up a fight..."

Suddenly the wiggling stopped for a moment. Angie was about to start cheering, but then the ball started moving again. It almost seemed like this Pokémon didn't want to get caught after all. Angie clenched her fists, and Ash did the same as he really felt her excitement himself. Then the relieving beep was heard, indicating the capture was finally completed. Angie ran towards the Poké Ball, lifted it high up in the air and started celebrating her latest catch.

"I've got a Zigzagoon!" she cheered.

"Nice work Angie!" Ash said as he put his arm around her.

"Well done!" Tracey also congratulated her.

"Ash, thanks again for lending Pikachu to me!" Angie thanked him, "I couldn't have done it without your help."

"Better thank Pikachu," Ash replied, "it did all the hard work."

"Thanks a lot Pikachu!" Angie said as she hugged Ash's little electric friend.

"Since we now have an extra mouth to feed, perhaps we should get moving again," Tracey proposed.

"Right, you lead the way again," Ash answered.

Our friends continued their journey, still hoping Tracey had finally found a way out off this immense forest. After walking for an hour or so, Tracey stopped and looked around.

"Eh... guys..?" Tracey suddenly said, sounding quite uncertain.

"Don't tell me you lost your way also!" Angie grumbled, and Ash also looked not too happy at this idea.

"Isn't that Viridian City?" Tracey asked.

"Where?" Ash said, as his face cleared immediately.

"There, through those trees..." Tracey said, as he pointed ahead of them.

"I believe it is..." Ash replied, "you did it, you've gotten us out of here!"

Ash and Angie both jumped up to hug Tracey for finally getting them all out off Viridian Forest, causing him to fall over backwards on the ground.

"Next time we get lost, I won't volunteer to try find our way back...aawww..." Tracey moaned, as he got up again.

Our friends raced down the shallow hill, to Viridian City, to go straight for a Pokémon Center, to freshen up themselves and their Pokémon. Ash didn't even mention going to the gym, that would have to wait till tomorrow...

My 32nd fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.


End file.
